Mona Lisa is, in fact, smiling, says a computer analysis. “The painting was analysed by a University of Amsterdam computer using ’emotion recognition’ software. It concluded that the subject was 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry.”
Tag: 12.15.05
Director: Detroit Historical Museum Won’t Close
Contray to what the mayor and city say. Bob Bury, executive director and chief executive officer of the Detroit Historical Society, said the society has “adequate funding” to keep the museum open. The mayor had announced closure because of budget needs.
The Theatre Critic’s Pitfall?
“Actors can be so charming, such fun. Yet, if you allow yourself to be even temporarily seduced (an essential part of the craft of performance, after all), there comes a point at which, in the cold light of morning, fingers poised above the keys, you can no longer trust your objectivity. There is no unity of opinion as to precisely where the line should be drawn.”
UK Theatre’s Ageism Problem
“Ageism is an enormous problem for dramatic writers in Britain today – in theatre, television and film. While many career writers continue to receive fulfilling assignments throughout their working lives, many others find themselves left at the wayside, not because they have nothing new to contribute, but merely because they are seen by commissioners as being a bit shop-worn. And for someone who only finds his or her voice in maturity, the outlook is barren indeed.”
Philip Roth: Let’s Shut Down The Literary World
“I would be wonderful with a 100-year moratorium on literature talk, if you shut down all literature departments, close the book reviews, ban the critics. The readers should be alone with the books, and if anyone dared to say anything about them, they would be shot or imprisoned right on the spot. Yes, shot. A 100-year moratorium on insufferable literary talk. You should let people fight with the books on their own and rediscover what they are and what they are not. Anything other than this talk. Fairytale talk. As soon as you generalise, you are in a completely different universe than that of literature, and there’s no bridge between the two.”
Edith Wharton Library Returns To America
George Ramsden, a British bookseller, has signed “a $2.6 million agreement to sell the 2,600-volume Edith Wharton library to the custodians of the Mount, the writer’s estate in Lenox, Mass., which she designed, built and finally left forever in 1911 as her marriage unraveled.”
Court Seizes Audubon Quartet Instruments
A federal bankruptcy court judge in Roanoke, Va., has ruled that the three remaining original members of the Audubon String Quartet must turn over their instruments to a bankruptcy court trustee to satisfy a judgment won by the fourth quartet member. “The legal battle has been long and bitter. It has divided the music world and split loyalties in and around Blacksburg, Va., where the quartet moved in 1980 for a residency at Virginia Tech, which ended after the lawsuit.”
Explaining Calatrava
“The flashy contours, flamboyant engineering effects, and mechanical gimmickry of the Santiago Calatrava style are futuristic in a way that went out of fashion circa 1965, when the last New York World’s Fair closed. The seemingly advanced (though in fact retrograde) aspects of his architecture disguise its underlying sentimentality, and make it palatable to patrons of a certain sophistication who would reject more pronounced expressions of kitsch. That he has found a constituency in the art world is perplexing, but his appeal to a popular audience makes perfect sense.”